Iontank, a specialized design studio based in Friendship that develops custom-built interactive hardware and software solutions for just about anything you can imagine, is looking to grow. In fact if you're a technically minded artist or a creative coder, Iontank might just be the place for you. A typical day at the office might include tossing around ideas involving “giant robots, fire and lasers,” says Rob de la Cretaz, technical director.

"Due to the nature of our business, growth is a weird thing," says de la Cretaz, who joined the company two years ago when there were just three employees. Now there are five and while the company is looking to expand, they want to be smart about how they are doing it, keeping the dynamism of their business in mind.

Iontank devises imaginative concepts and guides clients around the country through the prototyping process and into production. Director Stephen Streibig founded Iontank in 2001. Today, the crew includes disciplined techs and artists that boast a complete mastery of pixels, hammer drills and soldering irons.

“Pittsburgh is where we have chosen to live because we love the collaborative spirit of the creative folks that live here,” says de la Cretaz. “We are always open to collaborating with local artists and entities. We have an extensive war chest of technical toys and we don’t mind sharing.”

While the sky is the limit, much of Iontank’s work revolves around remarkable projects that leave jaws agape via installations, events and the trade show industry. For example, Iontank collaborated on the world’s first audience-driven interactive fireworks display alongside fireworks giant Pyrotecnico and VICE’s electronic music and culture channel THUMP. Commissioned to celebrate the launch of Samsung’s Galaxy S4 on Manhattan’s Pier 84, the project has been called a game-changer in the pyrotechnic industry.

Iontank built a phone app that integrated seamlessly to a pyrotechnics firing board and allowed hundreds of participants to customize and view the launch of actual fireworks at the touch of the screen.

“Seeing the looks on peoples’ faces when they realize they just fired a real firework made for an incredible project,” says de la Cretaz.

“The whole process was very collaborative and could never have happened in such a crazy time frame without the support of the experienced techs and logistics personnel at Pyrotecnico. . . We are used to working under pressure and know how to plan for all kinds of contingencies, but there is nothing quite like having huge batteries of live fireworks on the other end of your mouse,” says de la Cretaz. “Click and bang.”

Though Iontank can’t disclose specifics about current projects in the works, de la Cretaz says the team is building off the momentum of the interactive fireworks project and buzzing with ideas to harness the energy of a crowd to create exciting experiences.

“The concept of allowing a large group of people control their entertainment through innovative means instead of simply subjecting them to a predetermined composition is a very exciting prospect for us,” says de la Cretaz. “We are in the process of developing several prototypes to explore this territory.”

He describes his dream project as one that involves a client who is open to new and exciting ideas, a realistic budget and the shared understanding that amazing experiences normally take longer than four weeks to pull off.

“We’re always curious and hungry to develop new experiences,” says de la Cretaz. “There’s no doubt that there’s a healthy cross-pollination taking place between the worlds of advertising, architecture, design and digital artistry. We look forward to pushing those boundaries even further and to shaping a wondrous and unexpected future.”

PittsburghTODAY released its 2013 Today & Tomorrow report and the news across many sectors is enlightening.

With the economic recovery still underway in much of the country, Pittsburgh is the only benchmark region out of 15 that has experienced job growth and housing price appreciation. In addition, the labor force is at an all-time high and young people are returning and staying in the region.

Southwestern Pennsylvania continues to be one of the most affordable places for moderate-income families to live. A Brookings Institution study says so too, listing Pittsburgh as one of three cities in the U.S. to have recovered from the deep recession that began in 2007.

The region, however, has work to do in several areas, including transportation, the environment and issues pertaining to diversity, particularly in helping African Americans in the region to achieve the same quality of life as whites.

Among the highlights:

Population: It has been official but bares repeating: the region is attaining and attracting young talent. The region’s population of 20- to 34- year-olds grew by 7% over the last five years and is expected to grow another 8% in 2020. Three decades earlier the region was losing more than 50,000 people than it was attracting, mostly young adults.

Jobs: Jobs grew by a non-seasonably adjusted 1.7 percent in the seven-county Pittsburgh Metropolitan Statistical Area (MSA) from November 2007 to November 2012. Certainly not robust, but it was better than any of the Pittsburgh TODAY benchmark regions. Pittsburgh was the only region to post job growth over that period.

Tourism: Visitors to Southwestern Pennsylvania pumped $8.1 billion into the local economy in lodging, recreation, retail, food and beverage, transportation and other spending during 2011,the latest year the full data was reported. This is a 9.6% increase over 2010.

Housing: Pittsburgh was the only region in which the 5-year housing prices rose from 2007-2012.

Environment: While fine particle pollution is slowly decreasing, and met federal air quality standards for the first time in 2011 since the Clean Air Act was passed in 1970, smog and sewage spills and the health of our rivers remains an issue.

Fracking: Across the region, a survey shows that far more residents are convinced of the economic potential of the Marcellus Shale gas industry than are against drilling for it. More than 70% of those surveyed believe that gas drilling is boosting the local economy.

Just in time for the spring thaw comes a new weapon against Pittsburgh potholes, a smartphone app that tracks their location and subtly takes the city to task for leaving them unattended over time.

Carnegie Mellon University's RODAS Project--that's Road Damage Assessment System--gives GPS-linked smartphone users the tools to snap pictures of potholes and upload them on Facebook. The photos are then automatically tagged on an online map, marked by bright red dots, creating a virtual overview of potholes to alert officials (and drivers) where the potholes are.

The project, started last summer, was the original idea of Chilean Heinz grad Veronica Acha-Alvarez and inspired by a similar successful project in Chile. The Chilean app offers contests, (subtly timed with local elections) to identify the largest potholes.

"We are creating a secure, independent source of information about potholes that can be used to alert government agencies and to monitor their response," says Robert Strauss, professor of economics and public policy in the H. John Heinz III College.

Widespread publicity this week drove more than 800 hits to the site in one day, he adds.

Involving the community in identifying and monitoring the pothole problem is the primary goal of the project. The team also is considering other ways citizens may assist, including an adopt-a-pothole program that gets the community more involved with repairs.

"Kind of like a pet rock," says Stauss.

"PennDOT found it interesting," he adds. "This new public database is a new tool people can use to monitor what road crews are doing and to judge the efficiency of government."

RouteShout, which marks the first sale of a Deeplocal asset, allows riders to access up-to-the-second transit arrival times from their mobile phones. It will provide the "missing link" of real-time arrival data needed for intelligent transit systems, says Tim Quinn of RouteMatch.

PLSG received $500,000 in funding that will help to establish a life sciences campus on the South Side at the River Park Commons Business Center.

The funding comes from a Redevelopment Assistance Capital Program (RACP) grant from the state. The new campus will provide space for four to six wet-labs in addition to the existing 9,000 square feet of life sciences labs. PLSG will also move its office to the campus.

"The demand for this campus is significant as an increasing number of new biotechnology companies are being launched throughout the nation, and geographic clusters to house these new, start-up companies are highly competitive," said John W. Manzetti, President and CEO.

In other news, 20 biodiversity projects received $190,000 this week as part of a new initiative to support the stewardship of Southwestern Pennsylvania's natural resources.

The Sprout Fund and The Pittsburgh Foundation hope to jumpstart community-based biodiversity projects in the region through the Spring Program. The funded projects were selected from among 75 applications, says Dustin Stiver of The Sprout Fund.

"These projects offer an exciting array of innovative solutions to the many environmental challenges we face," says Stiver. "With diverse objectives and creative approaches, they give promise that the biodiversity of our resource-rich region can be preserved and enhanced for generations to come."

Six biodiversity projects received $20,000 awards including:

BioShelter and Food Systems Center at the Garfield Community Farm, where a permanent bioshelter will extend the farm's growing season and offer educational opportunities to the nearby elementary school;

Green Roofs for Bus Shelters in East Liberty, introducing flora and fauna into the urban environment through a living green roof on Penn Avenue;

Heritage Seed Bank and Nursery for seed banks and educational opportunities in the preservation of native heritage or heirloom edible plants;

Native Appalachian Garden, part of Pittsburgh Botanical Garden, cultivating woodland species of the region;

And Take a Hike: Backyard Biodiversity for a traveling presentation that will lead elementary school children on an exploration of the Earth's biomes at the Carnegie Science Center.

The other 14 recipients receiving $5,000 awards are include outdoor classrooms for children, ecological gardens, artificial chimney habitats for neotropical migrant birds, rain gardens in schoolyards with the help of Nine Mile Run Watershed Assoc. and native plant restoration projects.

Innovation Works’ welcomed its third wave of AlphaLab startups this month, a powerhouse group that has raised the bar and attracted entrepreneurs from across the country.

“We are very excited about the potential of this new AlphaLab class,” says Jim Jen, director. “Many of them have already made significant progress on developing their products and they have hit the ground running to build their businesses. The high quality of this group demonstrates the continued momentum of the AlphaLab program.”

A national model for accelerating the growth of next generation software, entertainment and online technology companies, AlphaLab's six startups are well on their way to commercial success.

Fooala helps restaurants to create their own online Web sites with applications that offer access to the menu, prices, reservations and delivery options. Fooala started with Carnegie Mellon’s Project Olympus and includes members from Duke University.

GearHeadz, which plans to go by trade name CloudFab, helps to sell the idle time of digital manufacturing equipment. As founder and CEO Nick Pinkston explains, an engineer that needs a part for a prototype would call GearHeadz, which collects the specs and searches for the best price.

“We’re creating novel parts that don’t exist,” says Pinkston. The service provides obscure pieces that could be used in everything from medical device prototypes, hobbiest projects, race car equipment and fake teeth.

LeftRight Studios is creating unique mobile games exclusively for the iPhone. The first title, smackBOTS, is an arcade style robot fighting game that will include a customization feature to add weapons, armors and robot heads. Half the team moved to Pittsburgh to take part. The game is available now, click here.

NavPrescience is developing an advanced navigation device that predicts a driver’s route and, unlike other tech out there, helps to avoid unanticipated hazards. The startup is a Quality of Life Technology Foundry spinoff from Carnegie Mellon.

Vivo is a web-based video broadcasting service that provides users with a private, customizable environment for sharing events. Vivo was instrumental in the simulcast of two recent CEO for Cities events in Pittsburgh (for the Pop City story, click here) and has consulted with Pittsburgh City Council about telecasting meetings life.Zipano Technologies empowers users of social networking sites and other information sharing services to better control and manage their personal information. The platform offers the user options on privacy preferences and enables the user to monitor with whom his information is shared.

The e-democracy race is on and if Councilman Bill Peduto has his way, Pittsburgh will blow the door of city government wide open and leave cities like Boston in the dust.

Peduto invited several Pittsburgh-based tech companies to City Hall this month to discuss using a mix of homegrown technologies to promote a unique blend of tools that would help constituents to better track goings on.

Among those who came to the table were online social political network MyGov365, searchable video data company Panopto Inc, web-based broadcaster Vivo and the Carnegie Mellon developer of YinzCam technology, which allows mobile phone users to watch replays of Penguins action inside the arena.

This is just the beginning, says Peduto. The discussion won’t be limited to these companies.

“Pittsburgh can be a model of e-democracy for the world. We want Pittsburgh (government) to not only be on the forefront, but to offer leverage to our own Pittsburgh-based companies to use the city as a test market to sell their products worldwide.”

Pittsburgh has $52,000 to webcast council meetings, which should be enough to cover the webcast and more, Peduto says. The city plans to award a contract to begin providing webcasts and searchable video by the end of this month.

Other proposed initiatives include an iPhone application for city government, a searchable database of all council votes and records offered by MyGov365 and offering online access to community meetings.

When leaders of the world’s most important emerging-market countries come to Pittsburgh this fall, what will they need, see and experience?

Suggestions poured in this past week during three public brainstorming sessions. Not able to attend? Share your ideas and sign up for potential volunteer opportunities at the Pittsburgh G-20 Partnership Web site by clicking here.

“We’ve gotten some really great ideas, things we hadn’t thought of,” reports Kevin Evanto of Allegheny County. “Many say they want the city to gleam, a display of flags of all the nations, to welcome people in their native language.”

One gentleman suggested inviting illusionists to walk the streets because no one needs a translator to understand the language of magic.

Other thoughts? Pittsburgh must live up to its green image with sustainable opportunities and recycling offered everywhere, at hotels, on the streets, in parks. Stage a special light-up or festival of lights, get the ethnic communities involved, improve signage and enlist university and high school students to volunteer.

“We’re still waiting to hear from the White House on many issues, but we want to be as prepared as possible so when we get direction, we can act,” Evanto adds. “We want to be in a position to respond to the White House right away.”

The county plans to create an online media center so when 3,000 reporters descend, they will find a Web site filled with story ideas and local opportunities.

The largest gas deposit in North America, a reservoir lodged in rock 6,000 feet under the ground, is luring big gas drillers from around the world to our region.

It’s also causing concern among environmental groups across the state.

Houston-based Cabot Oil & Gas recently opened a regional office in Pittsburgh to better position the company for Marcellus Shale business, a deposit that spans four states and may contain 50 trillion cubic feet in natural gas estimated at $1 trillion.

Pittsburgh is the firm's new North Region office; the company’s offices in Charleston, W.Va. and Denver, Colo. will close by the end of the summer and more than half of the impacted staff will move to Pittsburgh, according to the company.

Environmental concerns about the drilling have prompted local groups to rally for a state severance tax on the drillers, money they believe should go to restore and preserve local habitats and urban streams, such as the restored Nine Mile Run Watershed in the East End.

In addition to the tax,
PennFuture and others want to place a portion of the funds in the
state's Environmental Stewardship Fund, which would reinvest in parks,
habitats, waterways and open spaces.

The Marcellus Shale gas deposit runs from upstate New York, across most of Pennsylvania and into West Virginia and eastern Ohio. Most states charge drillers a small tax in exchange for extraction rights. Pennsylvania should do the same, say tax supporters.

If approved, the tax could generate more than $100 million next year and $600 million by 2013, says Joylette Portlock, Western Pennsylvania outreach coordinator for PennFuture.

PA Republican senate leaders are against the tax. Now is the time to contact legislators before the drilling is well established, Portlock told an assembled group at East Liberty Presbyterian Church last week.

“There are tremendous environmental impacts of drilling on the local economy,” added Hannah Hardy of the Pennsylvania Environmental Council. “This is the best way to ensure that there will be benefits to our community.”

Looking for that perfect intern or internship? The Regional Internship Center of Southwestern Pennsylvania is an indispensable resource.

RIC is an online, local clearinghouse for internships in the region, connecting talented and eager college students with businesses, explains Regina Anderson, director of RIC.

This month the center launched a new streamlined Web site with a complete listing of available jobs-in-training, including resume help and networking suggestions. The site serves as a one-click location where students can connect with opportunities and businesses can recruit talent.

RIC also plans to expand its reach in the next several months to include other parts of the state.

“We’re very unique in terms of the kind of support we provide,” she says. “We directly address the brain drain by helping to attract and retain talent in the region.”

It’s not too late to find work for the summer, notes Anderson. While RIC currently lists internships for the fall, openings are posted on a year-round basis.

More than 400 students participate in the RIC summer program each year. In today’s job market, a student can’t have too many internships, she adds. Those who take advantage of multiple opportunities have an advantage over student job-seekers who’ve only done one internship during their college career.

The cost to participate is $50, but many companies agree to cover the fee.The RIC is supported by 70 educational institutions in the region and is a program of Coro Pittsburgh. The program is sponsored by the Alcoa and Benedum foundations as well as The Heinz Endowments.

The Howard Hanna Company has stepped up support for the non-stop Delta flight from Pittsburgh to Paris with the purchase of more than 100 reservations for company employees.

For the past 20 years, the real estate Hannas and Hanna Travel have rewarded their sales agents with incentives, three levels of trips they can earn based on their annual production. Top sellers will receive a trip to Paris aboard the Delta non-stop, five nights and six days during March of 2010.

“I feel it is imperative we all support our new service from Delta to make sure we retain a valuable airport here to encourage local businesses to grow within the region,” says Helen Hanna Casey, president of Howard Hanna Real Estate Services. “We want to make it easy for people from everywhere to be able to get here easily!”

The Allegheny Conference has pledged more than $4 million to Delta through the year 2012 in support of the direct flight, should revenue fall short.

“Nonstop air service sends a clear message to the world: The Pittsburgh region is open for bilateral business and foreign direct investment,” says Dennis Yablonsky, CEO of the Allegheny Conference on Community Development.

“Regional businesses can now efficiently connect with their global clients, and it’s equally efficient for those abroad looking to do business or invest here to connect with us. Using the service is the only way to ensure that our region doesn’t lose a critical business advantage.”

Allegheny County will use $8.1 million in federal stimulus funding to conduct energy audits of county municipal buildings and offer energy-saving upgrades to County-owned municipal facilities.

Duquesne Light will partner with the county on the audits, which will include a review of lighting systems, heating and air conditioning, computer systems and the overall thermal envelope. About $2 million will be spent on the upgrades; eligibility will be based on the percentage of low and moderate income population in each municipality.

Another $5.8 million will be spent on conservation projects at the Courthouse, County Office Building, Jail, Shuman Center and Kane Regional Centers. The reduced energy consumption should save taxpayers an estimated $500,000 annually, the county says.

Allegheny County has also hired Jeaneen Zappa as the region’s first sustainability manager. Zappa will work with County departments and the Green Action Team to identify ways to improve the region’s ecological footprint.

The greening of the county “will result in significant energy conservation projects in local government facilities throughout Allegheny County, which will translate into savings for taxpayers and jobs for local workers,” says County Executive Dan Onorato.

In other green news, BikePGH hopes to clean the local air this summer by expanding its Bike to Work Day to an every week event. Car Free Fridays will start on June 12, a city-wide initiative to encourage commuters to leave their cars at home once a week and walk, bike or take public transportation. The event is sponsored by Port Authority and Mullen.

And Pittsburgh’s first green concert series is back, bigger and better than ever. The free, outdoor Solar Concert Series will feature 13 shows powered by a solar-energy sound system. For concert information, click here.

If Bob Fragrasso had his way, all high school students would graduate with strong entrepreneurial skills.

We need to help students learn critical thinking in a way that teaches them to care and engage in the business world, says Fragrasso, president of Fragrasso Financial Advisors, one of several underwriters of the 2009 George W. Tippins’ Regional Youth Entrepreneur Business Competition that wrapped up this month.

“It’s a tangible program that brings together math, critical thinking and human relations. Not every student will turn into Bill Gates, but every student is touched,” he adds. “It makes them more incisive about who they are and where they are going. I’d like to see the entire school system go this way.”

Fragrasso is one of three dozen local business leaders who participated in the competition, which is in its third year. The event,sponsored by the National Foundation for Teaching Entrepreneurship (NFTE), provides entrepreneurship education opportunities to young students from low-income communities.

Since 1995, NFTE has served more than 6,000 students at private, public and charter high schools around the region. Twenty-one finalists presented their business plans in May for innovative companies and products. Three finalist were selected:

First place, $2000 winner Lana Baslan is a graduating senior at Allerdice. Baslan is founder and CEO of Tres, a Arabic, Spanish and French translation service for her east area community.

Second place: Tressa Nemcik, a graduating senior from McKeesport High School, the CEO of Just Baby It!, a custom design business for infant “onesies.”

On blue summer days when there seems to be no one around to play, Pickupalooza.com is your friend.

Deeplocal has developed a new Web site that matches people and sports and locations around Pittsburgh. Simply go online, pick a game—tennis, soccer, basketball, whatever— that matches your interest, schedule or location and teammates materialize instantly.

Better yet, organize your own game.

“It’s about getting out there, meeting new people in the city and having fun,” explains Heather Estes, director of product evolution. “It’s often hard to meet people with the same interest through the bar and club scene. Everyone wants to play tennis, go for a bike ride or play a sports game. Pickupalooza is a perfect solution.”

The site is generating lots of playing interest, says Estes, who played soccer with 16 Pickupaloozas at Schenley Park on a recent weekend. Friends can send the participation link to friends and post it on Facebook or Twitter. If clouds roll in, players receive alerts on game changes and cancellations.

The most popular games are flag football, soccer and tennis so far, but a move is underway to add board games, tai chi, even Ultimate Frisbee. Players don’t need to register, but those who do create a profile with a game history, upcoming games and neighborhoods where you played.

“We want to connect with different organizations in the city, like sports leagues and city parks, and pass the word around,” says Estes. “We want everyone to know we exist.”

The Technology Collaborative, the Pittsburgh-based economic development organization that supports the growth of world-class robotics, cyber-security and digital technology, has awarded $1.5 million to nine companies and one Carnegie Mellon University project.

Eight are Pittsburgh-based and two are Philadelphia-based companies. All the projects are underway and will be completed by 2010.

“We received a record number of proposals which is indicative of the funding challenges faced by early stage companies across the country,” says David Ruppersberger, president and CEO of TTC. “The good news is that this particular group of awardees looks very promising in terms of their potential commercial success and economic impact on the region.”

The funded local companies include:

Acutronic USA and Virtus Advanced Sensors who submitted a join proposal to test and develop technology for the next generation MEMS intertial sensors based on Virtus’ proprietary technology. (For the Pop City story, click here.)

Bossa Nova Concepts, Oakland-based designers of robotic toys and games for young children, to further develop and test robots that complement characters in a virtual world.

Gradient Labs, pioneers of an approach called Spatial Computing and developers of a suite of products for several industries. A new Facebook application will offer enhanced media management, viewing and sharing to Facebook users.

HyperActive Technologies Inc., provider of restaurant automation solutions that detect and track vehicles arriving to the site, to develop a project to create and test a new platform.

A grassroots regional visioning process is underway, a process that helped to enhance world-class cities such as Turin, Italy, and Calvary, Canada.

The Regional Visioning Project is a two-year process that hopes to give the entire region—from leaders on down to citizens, students and retirees—a voice in what the 30-county, four state region around us might look like if we the people come together and rethink such challenges as water quality, transportation and regional job retention.

The ultimate goal? A regional to-do list that will inspire a brighter future.

“I view the beginning as a listening phase where we will connect to as many people as possible,” says Allen Kukovich, former state senator and representative who was appointed executive director of the project and its 55-member steering committee. “You can’t improve people’s quality of life unless you have a groundswell of support. We hope to reach 20,000 people and build a consensus on issues.”

Among the first matters of business is a contest to give the project a name, a moniker that reflects the essence of a region that includes parts of Pennsylvania, Ohio, West Virginia and Maryland. The project got underway in 2006 and takes its inspiration from the successful model used in places like Italy and Charlotte, NC.

Join the public forum on May 20th to learn more about it at CityLIVE! at the Hazlett Theater on Pittsburgh’s North Side. Panelists will include Mayor Valentino Castellani of Turin, Italy, Maureen McAvey of the Urban Land Institute and Kukovich. The event is free and open to the public.

“The biggest challenge I see is to engage people in this process who haven’t been part of a regional visioning conversation, making them feel valuable and important and making sure the conversation that comes out of this is relevant,” says Candi Castleberry-Singleton, chief inclusion and diversity officer for UPMC and moderator of the CityLIVE event.